After a long-running run on the iconic Vegas strip, the performers from the revue Jubilee! took a final choreographed kick in 2016. The show, famous for its elaborate costumes created by celebrated designer Bob Mackie, ended its run due to falling audience numbers and critical commentators who labeled it a spectacle “a relic of another era”.
Now, almost a decade later, the showgirl persona, or at least the showgirl style, is back.
A King of Sequins
Dubbed the “king of sparkle”, Mackie has made dramatic showgirl glitz his signature style, dressing everyone from Hollywood icons to Madonna. Recently, a “see-through” bodysuit he designed for Cher in 1978 sold for $57,600, well over its estimated price, while a silver and gold fringed bodysuit with shiny wings that Mackie created for Tina Turner for a 1977 performance sold for $19,200.
“I believe it looks more attractive for the younger performer who is desiring something other than what they grew up with”, he stated in an interview with a publication. “Contemporary performers are embracing a theatrical, more spectacular, show-stopping, entrance-making statement.”
The Mainstream Comeback
It’s a look that glided all the way to the epicenter of mainstream fashion in 2025 propelled by a chart-topping superstar. Earlier this year, the entertainment titan wore one of Mackie’s vintage Jubilee! costumes on the cover of her latest record. The bedazzled bra and thong, feathered armbands and sparkly headpiece were perfect for a record called The Life of a Showgirl.
Swift has company. This year, glamorous nods have been incorporated by pop stars including Dua Lipa as they danced across arena stages in sparkles, strategic openings and feathers, illuminated against camp sets. Lipa’s stylist her creative director mentioned in an interview with Vogue he wanted to bring “a stage persona” to her Radical Optimism tour – inspired by pictures from the 50s, the backup dancers waved giant feathered fans.
Pulling from the Past
Lipa, Carpenter and other chart toppers also take inspiration from classic performances, including vaudeville and dance line references. The outcome are vastly different from the 90s pop style of crop tops and baggy pants, and urban dance moves that preceded this trend.
But certain observers are enthusiastic with this glamour resurgence. An ex-showgirl, a one-time Jubilee! showgirl who entertained in the 00s says the trend is “puzzling”. She thinks the word term is being “used as an catch-all phrase encompassing everything from The Radio City Rockettes to Broadway performers and now apparently modern pop stars.”
A Highly Sought-After Vintage Style
For younger and millennial stars, Mackie’s vintage designs have become highly covetable. In 2024, a famous actress paid tribute to one of Mackie’s iconic muses, Cher, when the actor wore a translucent sequined dress made by the designer in 2001, which was reminiscent of one he made for Cher to wear in 1967. Months after, another pop star paid an significant price to buy the Mackie beaded mini dress she had worn earlier in the year to perform at the Grammys. In September, the singer wore a collection of retro Mackie designs at the MTV Video Music Awards. They are also a hit among fashion collectors.
“Showgirls evoke fond memories for a past glamour,” says a historian, an expert at the a Las Vegas university, who researches the story of showgirls. “Today it is considered a sort of ‘acceptable’ sexy because it has been updated. It has got all the sophistication, the crystals and the shine but without the bare skin.”
More Than Just Fashion: An Icon of Vegas
The expert says showgirls are integral to the imagery of Las Vegas. She points to one-time leader Oscar Goodman who, during public appearances, was accompanied by two showgirls. Even though Las Vegas no longer has any showgirl-based productions, the historian says they are still used as an symbol of the city, appearing at gatherings and in advertisements. “The showgirl is still a lasting symbol of Las Vegas glitz and glamour,” Chung says.
An Appeal of Escape
Hardy says the transformative effect of a stage character is part of the allure. This idea Swift hints at in a recent docuseries that captures the behind-the-scenes action from her massive 2023 Eras tour, which included gruelling practice sessions, workouts and 149 performances across 21 countries, each lasting 3.5 hours.
She explains her own nights in the spotlight as “like extreme physical exertion in high heels every night”. Her headpiece weighed 34lbs. “I had to support it all the way up the staircase to the platform from the dressing rooms three floors below in the underground. I had to leave early for my entrance so I could recover before I performed. You’re working hard the whole time but creating this illusion that it’s easy and stunning and dreamlike.”
It could be this is where the fascination of the showgirl fantasy really lies. In the busyness of 2025 there is a longing for fantasy. What better figure to turn to than showgirls, who have always represented make-believe, idealism and a universe where nobody misses a mark.
